Reports of Queues of people unable to vote?

[Longcol 597]

Had all the students in Halls been automatically registered by the University this time round? I know a number of universities have done this due to concern about the decreasing numbers of students voting.

 

Although I had no trouble voting myself (Sheffield Central) it did appear there were fewer staff on duty or it was organised differently. Previously on the desk they used to split the roads up something like A - L and M - Z. This time we all went to just the one person so it effectively halved the throughput.

[Darth Vader 10]

Why would I be looking for an excuse? :confused

 

If I were the Presiding Officer and I saw that there were people holding up the queue because they didn't have their card then I might be prepared to make 2 queues in order to speed things up.

 

I should imagine, if this was the reason for 2 queues, that had this not have happened then a lot more people would have been denied their opportunity to vote.

 

I don't have an axe to grind in this debate, I'm merely putting forward a theory.

 

How possibly would that speed things up? It would take exactly the same amount of time, except for card holders being processed a lot more quickly than the non-card holders. But the time taken would be exactly the same, just distributed in a more unfair way. But we're not talking about card holders v non-card holders, are we? Because that didn't happen it was students v non-students. All this ensured was that more residents were processed at the expense of students. This is not only prejudiced and unconstitutional, it can potentially be viewed as vote-rigging.

[John---doe 10]

Why would I be looking for an excuse? :confused

 

If I were the Presiding Officer and I saw that there were people holding up the queue because they didn't have their card then I might be prepared to make 2 queues in order to speed things up.

 

I should imagine, if this was the reason for 2 queues, that had this not have happened then a lot more people would have been denied their opportunity to vote.

 

I don't have an axe to grind in this debate, I'm merely putting forward a theory.

 

No, your theory is incorrect. All students were in a separate queu regardless as to whether they had their polling card.

 

And as many contributors have mentioned you do not need your card so that would also be an unfair way to segregate.

I have my card in front of me.

Rule 1 - Quote:

This card is for information only. You can vote without it, but it will save time if you take it to the polling station and show it to the clerk

[go4it 10]

Why would I be looking for an excuse? :confused

 

If I were the Presiding Officer and I saw that there were people holding up the queue because they didn't have their card then I might be prepared to make 2 queues in order to speed things up.

 

I should imagine, if this was the reason for 2 queues, that had this not have happened then a lot more people would have been denied their opportunity to vote.

 

I don't have an axe to grind in this debate, I'm merely putting forward a theory.

 

I don't know the facts about the 2 queues. But with two very large student residences in Ranmoor, all with the same address bar the flat number (Flat 1,2,3, 123 Great Big Halls Campus, Fulwood Road etc) it would have made sense to split into two queues. Therefore one person could just focus on these addresses.

 

I would guess that maybe a student who lived in a private house in Ranmoor could have joined the residents queue. But maybe a game of Chinese Whispers took place - the initial instruction might have been 'Ranmoor Halls etc queue here' but it got turned into 'students queue here'.

 

My polling station had two queues - Road A to M, and N to Z. It made it easier for the staff to search for the addresses. My queue was probably 10 mins shorter than the other, but no one moaned about segregation.

 

This is the first election since these two massive halls were built. Maybe something could be done better next time. But they that is life - people learn from mistakes - stop trying to blame everyone and everything. Max is right - had there been just one queue maybe more people might have missed out.

Edited May 9, 2010 by go4it

[John---doe 10]

This is the first election since these two massive halls were built. Maybe something could be done better next time. But they that is life - people learn from mistakes - stop trying to blame everyone and everything. Max is right - had there been just one queue maybe more people might have missed out.

 

There is an increase in students in these two new buildings. I am unsure of the exact number,

However lets not forget that they replaced structures (Sorsby, Earnshaw Hall etc) that were housing a large amount of students at previous elections.

[YouFo666 10]

So it's gone from politics to students now then ?? how astute... Get a life people dont rent one..

[Briantllb 10]

There was a suggestion made by some at the count that the problems in the constituencies with a large student population was a deliberate attempt to interfere with the electoral process.

 

UTTER RUBBISH is my response to that suggestion.

 

Perhaps those making that particular comment should have a little look at the actual workload of the average university student (even those on the most idiotic degrees) between lectures, seminars, and preparing for both. Students have little time to try to vote during the day. It is not possible to wait 2 or three hours in a queue to vote when there are lectures and seminars to attend or prepare for.

It would have made much more sense to have polling stations at the main locations at both universities and at the student residences. It must also be borne in mind that the universities in Sheffield are spread out over a considerable area so several polling stations would be needed. Surely this would be a better option than hoping the usual polling stations would cope with the demand?

 

Yes I know I made some cracks about students votes. But they are Adults and are entitled to vote and should not have been treated as second class voters as happened at some polling stations.

[pippadoll 10]

Had all the students in Halls been automatically registered by the University this time round? I know a number of universities have done this due to concern about the decreasing numbers of students voting.

 

Although I had no trouble voting myself (Sheffield Central) it did appear there were fewer staff on duty or it was organised differently. Previously on the desk they used to split the roads up something like A - L and M - Z. This time we all went to just the one person so it effectively halved the throughput.

 

 

I agree, there used to be two sets of people recording details to speed up the process.

 

Maybe the split was linked to postcode and one person had the halls of residents list. This will have speeded up the process as they were not constantly moving through the lists. It would make sense if this was the way it was done.

 

It was a shambles and clearly a case of cost cutting at the price of democracy.

[redruby 279]

I've not read through all this thread but maybe it would be an idea to have University polling station to serve the large student residences?

[mtbiker 10]

 

All these self righteous posters who think everyone should have gone earlier to the polls are completely missing the point.

 

It's not purely self righteous. Alot have people who say they have been denied the vote express the importance of voting and that it is there god given right etc etc. Therefore some of the people who ar saying they should have gone earlier are just makng the point that if something is that important then you should leave plenty of time and get it out of the way as soon as possible. Not simply at your convienience. I think this especially the case as you only get this vote every 4/5 years.

 

If people learn anything from this (and by that I mean the voters) it is that if something is so dear to them that they make sure they get it sorted with plenty of time rather than risking any potential that they might not make it on time.

 

But it is ridiculous to state that everyone should have gone earlier because as many posters have said some people aren't that lucky and work long hours